The race card will be used in attempts to cling to the lucrative Eastern Cape franchise, argues Andy Capostagno.
So the madness is over and the Southern Spears will not participate in next year’s Super 14. Instead, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) will spend time, money and resources on putting ”measures in place to help the franchise and the region reach acceptable levels of readiness”.
Mpumelelo Tshume, the chairperson of Saru’s board of directors, said some interesting things at a media conference in Cape Town on Wednesday. ”The decision of the board will be an unpopular one in some sectors of the community, but we believe halting the Spears’ participation in the Super 14 for now is the right thing to do. Posterity will judge us harshly if we consider quick fixes.”
So far, so good, but he went on to say: ”We need to take positive intervention to ensure sustainability in all areas of work in those provinces. Part of the remedy to be implemented immediately is the production of a detailed plan to assist the board of SA Rugby to intervene in the three provinces. Senior management of SA Rugby has been mandated to pool resources, including from outside of rugby, to help draw a blueprint that would point to the sustainability of rugby in those areas.”
Hands up if you understood that. Thought so. Civil-servant speak with forked tongue. Let’s try and translate. The three provinces are Border, Eastern Province and South Western Districts. The first two are in ”serious financial difficulties”, which is a wonderful euphemism for fingers in the till. The third is in similar trouble, but details have yet to hit the press.
So, not to put too fine a point on it, the Eastern Cape is a money pit. But it is also the home of a plethora of World Cup-winning Springboks of the future if Saru would only open its racist eyes and see the black talent doing cartwheels every week in club rugby and the Vodacom Cup. In which case, why is Saru drawing up ”a blueprint that would point to the sustainability of rugby in those areas”?
If the Eastern Cape is a hotbed of talent, why would Saru need to worry about the sustainability of the game in the region? Spears CEO Tony McKeever spent the week sending out propaganda, not all of which was entirely risible.
For instance: ”In a paper drawn up by SA Rugby in July last year, the four principles for a franchise award are spelt out. Among these are that each franchise must ‘recognise present rugby demographics in SA’ and ‘underline transformation-charter and player development’.”
McKeever went on to detail the ”rugby demographics” of the five franchises currently participating in the Super 14. ”Of the 29 players playing for the Sharks, eight are of colour. The Stormers have seven in their 28-man squad, the Bulls have six of 28, and the Cats have six of 27. The Cheetahs have four players out of 27. The size of squads varies because of injury and a clause which says that although teams must have squads of 30 players, they need only register a minimum of 28 players.
And in case you were wondering, the Spears have a registered squad of 24 players, 17 of whom are ”of colour”. It is, of course, at this point that logic flies out of the window. The Spears deserve to play in the Super 14 next year not because they have a great team, a massive support base or fabulous venues, but because, ”overall, only 20% of Super 14 players in the five [present] teams are black or coloured, compared with 71% of the Spears players.
”The Spears management said its team profile more than matched the demographic makeup of South Africa and that this indicated an ongoing commitment to transformation in the sport — which other regions did not have.” So there it is in 71% black and 29% white. Never mind the quality, feel the width.
Admittedly it is unacceptable that 11 years after the Super 12 began only 20% of South African team squads are black. Compare that to New Zealand and it’s clear which nation is transforming quicker. Except, of course, that New Zealand’s blacks are all ”foreigners”, from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
The point being that in New Zealand market forces apply. Rugby is a way out of the ghetto for displaced islanders who happen to be physically suited to the game, so they flood into the system and lift the general standard of play. Compare that to this country where vast sums of money have been squandered in a vain attempt to persuade black Africans to play rugby.
The likelihood is that Saru’s brave attempt to undo the wrongs of its previous administration will stir up a political hornet’s nest. The race card used by McKeever to justify the Spears existence will be played in every conceivable way and pressure will be ruthlessly applied in an attempt to reverse Saru’s decision. And all to decide which team will finish 14th.